. >>> general petraeus on capitol hill right now. the first time we've seen him since he resigned over an affair. will he put those questions to rest about benghazi? >>> president obama welcomes congressional leaders to the white house this morning. same people, same ideas on the table. is there a new willingness, though, to compromise? >>> a tragedy in texas. a freight train crashes into a parade float carrying veterans. the question is, what went wrong? >>> former director of the budget office, peter orszag will join us, jeff sessions is with us, actress jada pinkett smith will join us and kelly reilly from the movie "flight." "starting point" begins right now. welcome back, everybody. our team this morning, richard socarides is with us. economics editor at the economist. will cain is a columnist at the blaze.com. john berman is with us, helping us out with news. christine romans is sticking around, helping us out with business. fiscal cliff, 46 days and counting, we'll fall off the fiscal cliff. although some people have talked ab